The Tower in the Shadows

The weather was turning. She was sure of this now. The air was cold as the mountains held on to winter. Spring was still to take full hold in this region. A storm was coming.

"Vernia, how long before we arrive?" She looked to the other woman who had whispered the question. She and eleven other women were chained together on the deck of a Devnear river raider, which was travelling along the Shadow Way River.

"Soon, I think." She whispered back.

Looking over the group of women. They were pale-skinned with green or blue eyes. Their light brown and blonde hair contrasts with the men around them. All were dressed in the roughly same way. Long, flowing white cotton dresses embroidered with flower patterns along their collars and sleeves. All were tired, wet and afraid.

The Devnear men have olive-coloured skin with dark brown or black hair. They all had beards and dark, hard eyes. They dressed in roughed and well-made leather-reinforced clothing. Designed to protect them as they travelled the riverways and coastal routes.

They had been attacked less than eight days ago. Devnear raiders were a constant threat to any Skaald community along a waterway. Her village had been lucky for many years in avoiding these attacks and had built a solid wooden palisade to protect themselves. Ultimately, they were surprised when they opened the gates to begin the morning work. An advanced group of raiders were waiting.

The men fought well but were not ready, as the attack was too early in the year for anyone to even consider it possible. The raiders typically came in late spring to start the raiding season. A dozen raider ships had come together and they quickly overwhelmed her community. Then, the real horrors began.

She and the others were selected and chained together as the population was sorted. The young women were chained together in groups. The older ones were raped and killed for sport. All those who could fight or were too old were killed straight away. The children were also sorted and most were taken. The rest were put into a building and sealed within. She could still hear the screams, the smell of smoke and cooking meat as they torched her former home with the people they did not want.

"Storm coming in, Captain." The oldest, a grey beard, called from the front of the boat.

"I sense it." The captain called back from the rudder. The women huddled closer, quickly learning not to attract his attention. "Hands, keep a lookout for a place to beach if we need it!" He called to the rest of the crew.

None answered, but she knew all had heard. The Greybeard crossed the deck to speak with the captain. They did not know, but Vernia was being trained to replace her village's healer and was educated. She understood several languages, including theirs and could read. She had made several steps along the Paths of Ascension and was near her tenth step, which would give her a class. If they knew this and she had a little magic with the ability to sense auras, they would seek a higher price for her in the slave markets.

"We should not have followed this route." The Greybeard was not speaking loudly, but Verina could still hear them.

"Stop complaining, old man." The captain hissed. "I chose this route to save us time getting the cattle to market. This route will get us to Ostrul traders first and we will make a better profit."

Vernia shivered at the mention of Ostrul. The city-state was infamous for its training and selling of human slaves to anyone who had the gold. The other women understood the name of the traders but were too tired and beaten down to even whimper. The fear was still in their eyes.

"But the Shadow Way. We don't use this route and are not even on the main waterway."

"True, the last storm blew us down this minor waterway, but we will come out near Nascan city-states and then home to sell the cattle." The captain said with confidence.

"Well, look north." The Greybeard said, pointing in the direction of the closest peak. The captain looked and frowned at what he saw. Vernia looked too and realised why the Greybeard was worried. Heavy black clouds were moving south, fast and the air was growing heavy with the sign of a storm, as she had thought.

"Strumass, have mercy! The God of the Sky and Storms is active this season." The captain exclaimed. The crew had picked up on the conversation and were looking northwards. The storm was going to be harsh. "Baten us down, lads. Unless we find shelter, we will need to beach!"

The crew set about working on securing the ship. The raider was designed for rivers and had a small storage section under the main deck. Only used for storage, they were all exposed on the main deck. The sail was still open and the oars, which were unused, were attached to the side of the boat. That would change soon.

"Building in the trees to the south." A crewman called out, pointing to what he saw. They all looked in the direction and standing taller than the trees, they could make out a tower.

"A Cythian watch tower. Still standing?" The Greybeard said.

"Look! A place to beach as well, we will make for it." The captain declared. As they travelled, the tower became clearer to see. It was sitting on a low hill and was near the river. There was a gap in the forest that the boat could use to land, which led to the tower—a flood plain.

According to Greybeard, the building was a watch tower of the Old Empire. Vernia knew of them, but all in Skaald territory that she knew of were ruins. This one looked intact. It's overgrown but still whole. Vernia had no knowledge of the building, but some instinct warned her that it was strange.

"That's not right." The Greybeard said, spitting onto the deck to ward off bad luck. He, too, seemed to think that this was not right.

"The Goddess of luck is smiling at us, men. Let's land and get inside." The captain called out to a cheer from his men.

"Captain…..." He began. The captain grabbed him and leaned in.

"I don't want to hear it, old man!" He hissed. "We will take the good luck offered and be thankful." He pushed the older man away and began issuing orders to the rest of the crew.

Soon enough, they brought the boat in and pulled it partially from the river. Several crewmen hauled the ship aground and tied it to several trees using thick ropes. They were soon back aboard, grabbing weapons and packs.

"Get moving!" The captain yelled at them in their language and the chained women moved as quickly as possible to obey. They were all bound together by a chain with manacles on each right foot. This meant that they could not run, as the chain would trip them if they did. Getting off the ship was difficult, but they managed it and soon walked towards the building with the six members of the crew.

The other four had gone ahead and were looking through the building door. They had found it unlocked and had pushed it open. Vernia watched as it offered no resistance and the door hinges worked fine.

"How's it looking?" The captain asked.

"The Walls look solid, and the roof is intact. There are no signs of animals or monsters." One of the men answered.

"Captain, that's not right." The Greybeard said, bringing up the rear.

"Everyone inside." If the captain was going to say anything else, it was overridden by the rain that started. Cold and hard, it began falling from the dark sky, backed by a freezing wind.

Vernia and the other women were herded into the room by their captors. As soon as she passed the threshold, she sensed a powerful magical aura. The impression was so powerful that she almost tripped and fell. She could feel the intelligence and hunger all around.

She had never before encountered anything like it. The air was heavy with magic; she felt like she was facing a great beast. It took all of her self-control to remain outwardly calm and able to put one foot in front of the other. The other women picked up on her heightened fear and became restless.

"What's wrong with the cattle?" One man asked.

"Bah! They think we might take a few for some more entertainment, like earlier. Put them there." The captain said. He pointed to a spot next to some cupboards across from the fireplace and the table that dominated the room.

Vernia and the others were forced to sit as the raiders explored or began setting a fire. Vernia also looked around and noted one thing that stood out to her: the lack of dust. She did not know why, but this stood out the most.

"Vernia, what's happening." One of the women asked her. She motioned them to silence as the fear turned to dread as she sensed that the presence here was aware of them.

The Greybeard placed two packs nearby and she identified the contents of one straight away. Her books! When her village fell, the raiders burned everything, but the Greybeard was more competent and knew the value in the books that her master had once owned. The others had wanted to burn them, but the Greybeard firmly claimed them as part of his "share" of the raid.

Seeing them stirred a memory of them. She remembered a night several years ago when the master entertained another traveller. They had been discussing many things late into the night and she had become very drowsy, but one thing they spoke about she had perked up at. Dungeons.

She did not remember everything but clearly remembered the discussion on a dungeon aura. It was so similar to what they had discussed. But something was different here. Where were the dungeon monsters? Why were they not being attacked?

"Get that fire up, good. Let's get some food on the go and maybe some entertainment." The captain ordered. Many men grinned evilly and the women around Vernia shrank back, not knowing the words but the look.

Soon, they were eating and talking. The room was filled with the smell of food and wood smoke. They were all relaxed, apart from the Greybeard, who was alert and tense. The sun was now nearly gone and the fireplace was the source of illumination.

"Captain, look what I have found!" One of the younger men exclaimed. He had been searching the cupboards and emerged with a few coins and a bottle.

"Show me!" The captain demanded. Soon, he took them off the other. "Cythian coppers and a sealed bottle of wine. Men, tonight we drink!" The crew cheered and grinned wildly.

"Apart from you two." He turned to look at the youngest of the crew. Both were barely sixteen winters. "You two still need punishment, so look through the rest of the building." He points to the door that leads further in.

One looked like he would argue but thought better of it, and both glumly went about their task. They took torches from the wall, lit them and left the room. They left the door slightly ajar as they left.

The other crew muttered about the two who had left but soon focused on the captain cracking the bottle. He sniffed the bottle's contents.

"Smells good." Then took a big swig. "Tastes good!"

The bottle was passed around, and each man drank deeply, except Greybeard, who refused. Several jeered him for it, but he ignored them. The front door was locked and they all settled in the chairs in the room.

Vernia and the others were hungry and thirsty but said nothing. Knowing that drawing attention to themselves would lead them to being the source of the night's "entertainment".

The men casually talked about this until they heard the first scream. The room suddenly stilled. It was distant and sounded like one sent to explore the building.

They all jumped to their feet, drawing weapons.

"What was that?" One demanded.

"Sounds like Veruss. Secure the cattle, you two. The rest and I will find out what's happening." He indicated to two and the rest nodded, ready to follow their captain. Then came a second scream.

The two chosen to remain hurried over to the women. Suddenly, one started coughing and then collapsed. Exclamations rang out but were soon followed by more men collapsing.

"The wine was poisoned!" The Greybeard realised at the exact moment Vernia did. Both men were sent to watch her and the others were dead. Both are lying close to them. Vernia saw that one had a set of chain keys.

"Help me, sisters. The keys, we can be free." Vernia urged them as she lunged for the body. Many were frightened to act, but Vernia was sure now of their danger. She managed to scramble to the body and gripped the key ring. Once firm in her hand, she began testing to find the one for her lock.

Across the room, everyone had fallen apart except the captain and Greybeard. The captain had dropped his blade onto the table and was leaning on it while Greybeard looked around frantically for danger.

"I warned you about this place." He yelled at his captain.

“Shu… shut up…. You old…. fool." The captain was weakening and growing paler.

Both men were not paying attention when Vernia freed herself. Scrambling back over the closest dead body, she grabbed and drew a long dagger. Using the table to shield her from their sight.

The loud sound of buzzing wings was coming from beyond the ajar door. The Greybeard began walking towards the door to close it when Vernia attacked. With a scream, she leapt up and attacked him.

He was so focused on the door that he was unable to respond in time. The blade plunged into his neck and Vernia continued screaming her hate as she struck repeatedly. The old man collapsed under her assault.

Vernia suddenly realised he was dead and looked around wildly. She was covered in his blood, now staining her dress crimson red.

The captain snarled and approached her with his blade in hand. He stumbled, coughing and collapsed to his knees, then planted face-first onto the corpse of another of his crew.

Silence.

Verina only heard her frantic heart beating and her ragged breaths.

"Vernia, what do we do now?" The women had almost freed themselves and were looking around for danger.

"Grab everything you can. We need to go." The rain subsided. She knew they had to risk travelling along the river at night. One or two of the women knew a little about boats and the captain was sure they were near the edge of the mountain range.

The others quickly gathered several heavy leather bags with supplies; most had even armed themselves. The silence from the interior was starting to put them all on edge. They were all glancing at the doorway fearfully.

"Let's go." They began moving to the door that led out. Bring up the rear, she suddenly remembered. Her books!

Turning to return and get them, she saw they were not alone. Sitting on the bag was a Sharoon. She had seen one owned by a travelling merchant before, except this one was larger.

"Shoo!" She said as she made threatening gestures. The animal did not move and watch her. Suddenly, the buzzing of wings returned.

"Vernia, we need to go!" A woman called out from behind her.

Then she understood that the books and everything else left were no longer theirs to use. They now belonged to the dungeon.

She turned and joined the others fleeing into the night.